The Unshocking has Happenned

Is anyone surprised that McCrystal is out and Petraeus is in?  As Prof. Jacobson pointed out at Legal Insurrection, the most damning "McCrystal" quotes from the Rolling Stone article that started this whole ball rolling were not actually quotes from Gen. McCrystal but from the general's aids.  Obama could have kept McCrystal on but Obama wanted to appear strong-no easy task our effete and quibbling Commander in Chief.

But then an odd thing happenned...

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

Not that I would ever accuse the honorable MoveOn.Org of hypocrisy or anything, but it strikes me odd that they would pick today to scrub their “General Betray Us” page from their website. After all, the only change is that Obama has handpicked Gen. Petraeus to take over where his handpicked Gen. McCrystal is leaving off (letting go?). If the Lefties disapproved of Gen. Petraeus yesterday, and they certainly did, shouldn’t the same still hold true today? Weasel Zippers has the screen shots and this via Drudge:

WASHINGTON (Friday, September 21, 2007) — The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning MoveOn.org for a newspaper ad it ran last week attacking Gen. David Petraeus. The move came as President Bush accused Democrats of cowering to the liberal political action group.

. . . Partisans also took the opportunity to slam Clinton and Obama for not voting on the amendment.

“Senators Clinton and Obama need to decide whether they’re running for America, or running for MoveOn.org. If Clinton and Obama cannot bring themselves to take a stand against a vicious attack on the man leading our forces in Iraq, why should American voters believe they are capable of demonstrating the leadership we need in a commander in chief?” said Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan.

All this might lead some to believe the folks at MoveOn.Org are being a might, um, inconsistent. If it “Betray Us” under Bush then wouldn’t it follow that it would be “Betray Us” under Obama? Well, I certainly wouldn’t want to jump to any wrong conclusions about MoveOn’s motives, principals, scruples, integrity or honor but…

Read the rest.
 
Update via Instapundit:

So Obama has done what he does best: vote “present”, and punt. But in this case, he’s punted to someone who actually knows what they are doing. We may not agree with Petraeus’s exact personnel choices (of which I assume there will be many, not just the second-in-command I note), but I feel certain he’ll make them for better reasons and with better rationale than Obama.

No doubt.

Update II

Stacy McCain summarizes Obama's remarks:

Blahblahblah “Pock-ee-stahn” blahblahblah “grateful for sacrifice” blahblahblah . .

Update III

Stacy McCain and Ed Morrisey are currently tied at ten updates a piece! Should either of them decide to update and link me they would break the tie and I predict that person would go on to victory.

I Have More Military Experience Than Obama and Biden

It's true. No, I've never served in the military but I was an Air Force dependent and as such, I did spend fifteen months in Turkey. So what? Being a former dependent certainly doesn't make me an expert on military operations but apparently, unlike the President and Vice President, I know that I don't know better than a General.

Being a leader means making difficult decisions. While no one can be an expert at all things, a good leader surrounds himself with experts and then makes decisions based on the expert's advice. Gen. McChrystal is the President's expert in Afghanistan. Obama put him in that position. Yet, when Gen. McChrystal tells the President that we need more troops on the ground, does Obama take his advice? Who knows? The only thing we know is that while Obama is dragging his feet, our men our being killed.

Another Black Conservative quotes Sarah Palin:

For two years as a candidate, Senator Obama called for more resources for
the war in Afghanistan and warned about the consequences of failure. As
President, he announced a comprehensive new counterinsurgency strategy and
handpicked the right general to execute it. Now General McChrystal is asking for
additional troops to implement the strategy announced by President Obama in
March. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have sons, daughters, fathers,
mothers, sisters and brothers in harm's way in Afghanistan right now. We owe it
to all those brave Americans serving in uniform to give them the tools they need
to complete their mission.

Now that candidate Obama is President Obama he seems to be walking back his commitment to Afghanistan. He serves the far Left, not the country as a whole, and the Left want us out of Afghanistan. Obama, who believes that he can solve all ills by scraping and bowing, wants us out of Afghanistan. If Obama isn't going to fight this war to win and he isn't going to give our soldiers the support they need to stay alive, I want us out of Afghanistan.

Gen. McChrystal isn't saying that all is lost. He is saying that this war is winnable but there are steps that must be taken if we are to win. But he cannot do one thing until the President gets off the pot and makes a decision. No matter what he decides not everyone will agree. Every day that he stalls while Vice Pres. "Grima" Biden whispers bad advice in his ear brings us a day closer to defeat. This country needs a leader and sooner rather than later.